Los Angeles Times fires reporter, admits error in 3 stories

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Times has dismissed a reporter after discovering he had an inappropriate relationship with someone who was a source for a front-page story that the newspaper says contained an error.

An editor’s note Friday says Jason Felch’s actions and his failure to disclose the relationship constituted “a professional lapse ... that no news organization can tolerate.”

Felch said Friday he didn’t use the person as a source during the relationship.

His Dec. 7 article said Occidental College didn’t disclose 27 alleged sex assaults in 2012, as it must under a federal law requiring campuses to publish serious crime reports on or near campus. The Times says a review found that the incidents did not fit the law’s definition of campus crimes.